Berkeley’s many worker-owned companies can fix your bike, sell you biodiesel or furnish the glassware for your laboratory. Here’s a list of where to find them.
Joanne Furio
Joanne Furio is a longtime journalist and writer of creative nonfiction. Originally from New York, she has been a staff writer, an editor and a freelance magazine writer. More recently, she was a contributing writer at San Francisco magazine for a decade, covering design, culture and style. Over the years, her work has appeared frequently in The New York Times, New York Newsday, The Village Voice, Ms., Dwell and Landscape Architecture.
Posted inCommunity
2 groundbreaking Berkeley mental health institutes celebrate 50 years
The Berkeley Therapy Institute is known for its sex therapy work and its forensic evaluations of cults. The Psychotherapy Institute, a low-to-moderate fee clinic, has trained hundreds of clinicians.
Posted inBusiness
Shop Talk: Stolen Levi’s sign returned; antiques shop closes in South Berkeley after three decades
A merchant who loved shopping for antiques as much as selling them leaves a neighborhood of antique shops. Catch up on this and other Berkeley retail and small business news.
Posted inBusiness
Shop Talk: Where to go to ‘dress like your parents’; Berkeley YWCA’s new leader is gone already
Two brothers from Concord turn their hobby into a business at Paisley Vintage. Catch up on this and other Berkeley retail and small business news.
Posted inCommunity
Shop Talk: Hot tub maker opens Berkeley store; used T-shirts printed with fresh designs to cut waste
Robert’s son has taken over at Robert’s Hot Tubs, new to Fourth Street. Catch up on this and other Berkeley retail and small business news.
Posted inCommunity
Berkeley lawn bowlers have been rolling bowls in Poet’s Corner since 1928
Yes, bowls, not balls! The club is enjoying a pandemic-fueled renaissance. Meanwhile, its unused green could become a public park.
Posted inBusiness
Shop Talk: New school and club sails into the Berkeley marina; tech company turns worker co-op
Inspire Sailing opened at the marina a year ago. Catch up on this and other Berkeley retail and small business news.
Posted inCommunity
Low-tide sandbar has hosted clam bakes, live chickens and even a wedding
Since 1978, they’ve been coming on sailboats, kayaks, rowboats, canoes and dragon boats to celebrate low tides twice a year on the Ashby Shoal, which is usually underwater.
Posted inBusiness
Shop Talk: Perfumery at former Spenger’s site sells fine scents (nothing fishy); superheroes in North Berkeley
Le Labo, part of an upscale international chain of perfume shops, opened quietly during the pandemic on Fourth Street. Catch up on this and other Berkeley retail and small business news.
Posted inArts
At Berkeley’s queer tango class, it takes 2 but it doesn’t matter who
“Queer tango is Argentine tango without the homophobia, transphobia and rigid heteronormative rules,” says a co-founder of Abrazo Queer Tango, open in Berkeley since 2012
Posted inBusiness
Shop Talk: Westbrae Nursery turns into worker co-op; no rivalry for lamp sellers on Solano
Westbrae Nursery, in existence since the 1930s, now has seven worker-owners. Catch up on this and other Berkeley retail and small business news.
Posted inLocal Produce Week
How to cook with the East Bay’s bounty of cherry plums
Wild plums, the freely found fruit of the East Bay, can become chutney, ice cream or liqueur.
